Refrigerating device



Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED YsTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER w. EonINsoN, or BELoIT, wIscoNsIN AssIGNoR or oNE-HALE To BENJAMIN E. LYoNs, or EELoI'r, WISCONSIN.

EEERIGERATING DEvIcE.

Application filed July 5, 1921. Serial No. 482,460.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER W. ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beloit,-Rock County, Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The present improvements relate more particularly to that part of a refrigerating system in which the effective refrigeration takes place. The 'present kind of device is frequently called a refrigerating tank, especially where it contains a liquid having a relatively low freezing point, such as brine. 'The principal object of the invention is to improve the efficiency of such devices, and according to simple features of construction.

A specific object lis to induce a circulation of cooling air from the region of greatest cold through a part of the device adapted to receive articles to be cooled. Another specific object is to induce an automatic temperature-controlled circulation of the liquid. Important advantages of the invention reside in the fact that the superficial area of the tank is rendered more effective to-redue temperature adjacent to it. Secondly, that the cooling chamber, as the term is used herein, (the same being a special chamber within the confines of the tank:`

itself and designed for refrigeration at a much lower temperature than that of the air surrounding the tank as a whole) is automatically provided with intensely cold air in continuous circulation, and its efectiveness is thus increased. Thirdly, theV liquid within the tank, such as brine', is maintained in actlve automatic temperaturecontrolled circulationwhereby it has abun' is a vertical section through the device complete as on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, parts being broken away; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section substantially on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, the door being sectionally shown and a chamber wall being broken away.

rIhe present device is adapted to be used 1n connection with an apparatus or system for forcing the refrigerating medium through the illustrated coil. Many such systems are well known and require no detailed description. The refri rating medium may be ammonia gas, 3, which is mentioned-as one Aof a considerable number of substances well known and appropriate for use according to the particular system. employed. r

The improved device illustratedv includes an ouhter metallic receptacle o r tank 9 having slde walls 10, 11, 12 and 13, a bottom wall 14; and a removable lid or cover 15, this tank being adapted to contain a lowfreezing liquid 16, for instance brine.

The expansion chamber 17 is preferably in the form of a coil of pipe having an inlet 18 and an outlet 19 adapted to be connected to ypipes forming. part of the circuit of the refrigerating medium, ,for instance ammonia gas. The pipe? connections at 18 and 19 will sustain the weight of the coil 17, but it may .be supported by rests or braces within the tank in any approved way.

Within the tank 9 and preferably spaced from all of the Walls thereof is the cooling chamber device 20 having side walls 21, 22,

23 and a front wall 24 in the form of a heatinsulating door hinged at 25 and having a catch connection at 26, the door bei-ng thus readily swung open for the insertion and removal of articles to be cooled to a relatively low degree. The cooling chamber device has also a top wall 28 and a bottom wall 29 the latter being preferably on inclined lines upwardly'from the wall nearestV the coil 17 to facilitate theoutward and upward circulation of the liquid 16 at that place. The interior of the chamber 2() may be provided with shelves as 29l for holding the articles to be cooled, as, for instance the bowl 30 adapted to contain water to be frozen into blocks of ice 'for household use. The shelves 29 are preferably of wire in lattice work formation to' ermit the free upward passage of air.

n' close proximity to the expansion chamber, as 17, andpreferably encompassed by the coil as illustrated, I provide at least one and preferably a plurality of upright tubes 32 having a length about equal to that of the upright cooling chamber r2O a-nd being oi materiall f large diameter for the accommodation o a considerable volume of air. I also provide a lower tubular air-passageway# forming device 33 which is in the form of' a casting having a base 34 which may be secured as by bolts to the bottom walll ot' the tank. The casting 33 has an interior channel or passagewa 35 adapted to connect the/ interior of one o the pipes 32 at the bottom with bottom portions of the chamber 20, the casting having an annular flange 38, the pipe 32 havingtightly secured to it a metallic ring having a flange 39, the flanges 38 and 39 being bolted together with a gasket '40 between them. The same construction is the U-shaped bailles 50 spaced from. the side walls and from the top and bottom walls and which, together with the wa1l23 of the cooling chamber device, forms a well or compartment 51 open at top and bottom in which is the coil 17. The construction provides an outer chamber 52 surrounding the partition 50 and the cooling chamber 20. Since the y specific gravity of the liquid 16 isgreater at its lower temperatures the liquld around' the coil in the chamber 51 descends and that in the cham'ber 52 rises, and thus currents are automatically induced which are downward in the chamber 50, which diverge therefrom at "the bottom, which are upward in i the outer chamber. 52', and which converge toward the. coil 17 or chamberl at the top. The cold liquid is thus continuouslybeing carried to the peripheral areas 'of the device where the external refrigeration Vis being accomplished, and also -to the outer surfaces of the cooling chamber 2O where it cooperates `with Athe .cold air circulation to maintain the temperature in the chamber 20 at a relatively low degree.v

To facilitate the circulation of the liquid the top and bottom corner portions of the tank 9 are rounded.

l 4While I have thusy illustrated and described' al highly effective embodiment of changes and modifications from what is vspecifically shown, as indicated in the appended claims.

I claim: v l. In a refrigerating device of the character described, the combination of walls forming a receptacle, walls forming a cooling chamber therein, said cooling chamber having an opening and a readily operable closure therefor to provide for the insertion and removal of articles to be cooled, means forming an expansion chamber for the refriger? ating medium in said receptacle, and means forming an air passageway in communication with said cooling chamber at upper and lower portions thereof and extending to a f region in close proximity to said expansion chamber for providing an automatic` temperature controlled Acirculation of air through said chamber.

2. In a -refrigerating device of the character described, the Acombination of walls forming a receptacle, walls forming a cooling chamber therein, said chamber having an opening and a readily operable closure therefor to provide for the insertion and removal of articles to` be cooled, a coil for the refrigera'ting medium in said receptacle, and means forming an air passageway in communication with said cooling chamber at upper and lower lportions thereof and forming therewith substantially a ring and extending within the inner space defined by said coil for providing a'n automatic temperature-controlled circulation of air through said chamber.

3. In a refrigerating device of the characterdescribed, the combination of walls .forming a receptacle for a liquid, walls formingv a cooling chamber in said receptacle and arranged so as substantially to be immersed in such liquid, said cooling chamber having an v .opening and a readily operable closure therefor to provide for the insertion and removal of articles lto be cooled, mean's forming an eX- v yof air through said chamber.

4.l In a refrigeratin device of the character described, the com ination of walls forming a'freceptacle for a liquid,walls 4forming a cooling chamber in said receptacle and pov sitioned so as substantially to be immersed in such liquid, said cooling chamber having an opening andA a readily operable closure therefor to provide for the insertion and removal of articles to be cooled, means .forml ing an expansion chamber for the refrigercooling vchamber at upper and lower portions thereof and extending to a region in close proximity tosaid expansion chamber for up and down providing an automatic temperature-controlled circulation of air through said' chamber, and means including said cooling chamber walls for inducing a temperature-con trolled circulation of such liquid in currents,I

which flow downwardly in close proximity to said expansion chamber, divergingly at the lower portion of the receptacle, upwardly at 'side portions of the receptacle and convergingly toward said expansion chamber at the upper portion of the receptacle.

5. A refrigerating device comprising walls `forming a tank for a liquid, a coil for the refrigerating medium in said tank, walls forming an air chamber in ring form within said tank, part of said air chamber' being surrounded by said coil, another part of said air chamber forming a receptacle for articles to be cooled.

6. A refrigerating device comprising walls forming a tank for a liquid, a coil for the refrigerating medium in said tank, said coil being arranged to provide an inner space extending upwardly and downwardly, walls forming a ring-like air chamber in said tank, one part of said air chamber extending 1n lines in said inner space, another part extending in up and down lines adjacent to said oo il.

7. A refrigerating device comprising side, top and bottomv walls forming a tank for a liquid, walls forming substantially a ringlike air chamber'having two upright parts and an upper and a lower part connecting the upright parts, a coil for the refrigerating medium surrounding one of said upright parts, said coil being .spaced from someof the side walls of the tank, and partltion means between side walls of the tank and the coil, said partition means being spaced at the top and bottom from the top and bottom walls respectively'of the tank.,

8. In a refrigerating device, the combination of walls forming a tank for a liquid, walls forming -a cooling chamber in said tank, aplurality of upright tubes, upper and lower passageway-forming means, the upper portion of each tube'being in communication withupper portions of the cooling chamber and the lower portions of each tube being in communication with lower portions of the cooling chamber, means forming an expansion chamber for the refri eratng medium closely adjacent to said tu es.

9. Refrigerating ldevice construction comrising walls forming a tank for a liquid aving a top wall, side walls, and a bottom wall, a passageway-forming casting having a base, said casting having spaced-apart passage-way openings directed upwardly, a tubular member and a cooling Y chamber member,each having a bottom opening correspondlng with the openingsreispectively in saidl casting, means for securing the tube and the cooling chamber member-upon said casting for communication with the hollow interior thereof through saidI openings, a passageway-formingtop casting adapted to bridge said tube and said cooling chamber member at the tops thereof respectively and having-spaced apart passage-way openings directed downwardly, said cooling chamber member and the tubular member each having an opening registering with a respective passage-way opening of the top casting, and

means for securing said top casting upon the tube and cooling chamber member, the construction thus forming a substantially ring-like chamber, the bottom, side and top walls of the tank encompassing said ringlike chamber.

WALTER W. ROBINSON, 

